SEFCU Championship: Players going low at Symetra Tour’s Albany stop

ALBANY >> If the first round is any indication, we could be in for some record scores at the SEFCU Championship at Capital Hills at Albany. Several players had their best round of the season to get this next stretch of the season started.

Min Lee, a rookie from Taiwan, shot her season-best 6-under 65 to lead the first Symetra Tour stop after a three-week layoff for the players. She leads by one over Brianna Do of Lakewood, Calif., who shot 33-33 (-5) on the par-71 course, and Laura Wearn of Charlotte, N.C., who shot her season low 66.

Nine players, including the defending champion Wei-Ling Hsu of Taiwan, and Nannette Hill, a three-time NYS Junior Girls champion, are tied at 67 (-4), two behind Lee. Also in that group is Madison Pressel, who played last year in Albany on a sponsor’s exemption. She is the younger sister of LPGA star Morgan Pressel.

“I struck the ball really well today,” Pressel said. “It’s a great way to start this four-week stretch that’s for sure.”

Pressel jumpstarted her round with a pair of birdies right out of the gate in the afternoon wave from the field of 144. She drained a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-5 first hole and followed it up with an 8-foot birdie on the second. She had five birdies on the front nine to shoot 32-35.

“The first nine I couldn’t miss a putt,” she said. “The back nine I got a little cold.”

Her wedge play was spot on, giving herself birdie putts of 4-feet on No. 5, 10-feet on No. 7 and 12-feet on No. 8. Capital Hills is one of only a couple of tour courses she’s seen twice. She has one win on tour this rookie season.

“You feel a little more comfortable,” Pressel said. “You know where not to miss it and I think that helps a lot.”

Do, a UCLA product, made her first LPGA cut last week in Ohio, which gave her confidence.

“I had good things going last week,” she said after shooting 33-33. “I hit it well, putted well, mentally I was great and then I come out here and take the momentum and keep going.”

A round of five birdies and no bogeys produced a big smile after her round. What added to that was that was a chip-in on No. 15 plus she missed two greens-in-regulation and still got up-and-down on both. That included draining a 17-footer for par on No. 17.

“That was the only tough par out there for me, today,” Do said.

Also on the tricky par-4 17th with the elevated green, Wearn made an eagle from 145-yards with her 8-iron.

“I was a little bit nervous to play the hole so when it went in I was really excited,” she said, adding she didn’t really see it go in until people by the green reacted.

“I was glad to get it out of the way,” Wearn said, who went over and had a photo taken of herself next to the leaderboard after the round.